Growers are
asked to pay particular attention to the safe use of winches on their farms. In
the shelf system, the compost is pulled on the black winding Tencate Nicolon
net which carries up to 5 tonnes of compost. On top of this net is a light
polythene sheet to keep the net as clean as possible and to keep heat in the
compost in winter. In the summer a perforated version is used for cooling the
compost.

Filling the compost

The filling
winch is set up at the opposite end of the shelf to emptying and pulls in the
net, sheet and compost the full length of the shelf with two wire ropes. There
is a safety cage on this roller winch. The main danger is fraying ropes pulling
in 5 tonnes of compost.

Emptying the compost

At every
shelf, the new net and polythene sheet have to be started on the roller - three
problems can arise:

1: The black
winding net is attached by a steel bar to the roller and needs a few turns with
hands on the roller to start turning. The temptation is to use the motor to do
the few first turns needed while settling the net with both hands on the
roller. This is dangerous.

2: The main
problem occurs with the light polythene sheet, it appears after a few turns of
the motor-powered roller. Sometimes it does no wind itself on the roller and
falls down. It then has to be manually started on the roller with a hand wind
around. This is extremely dangerous.

3: Less
often, the black winding net is not square on the roller at the start and a
fold at the edge occurs. This could be wrongly solved by a hand pull. Again, this is extremely dangerous.

Proposed solutions to emptying problems:

1: The winch
motor must be switched off while adjusting the nets on the roller.

2: a new
positive pedestal switch should be fitted to the winch motor so that the motor
only works if the switch is kept pressed by hand. Thus when the operator
releases the switch to wind on the polythene sheet, the motor immediately stops
and handling can be safely done.

3: Growers
must insist that emptying workers operate the switch by continuous hand
pressure.

 Source: Teagasc: The<b> Teagasc Advisory Newsletter July 2011</b>